The related art of interest describes various locking devices, but none discloses the present invention. There is a need for a locking device that prevents the theft of key construction equipment such as a backhoe and articulated loaders if a thief has an ignition key or other way to start up the vehicles' engines.
Backhoes and other construction equipment such as, but not limited to, articulated loaders, are vulnerable to misuse and theft, particularly at night when construction equipment are often left unattended on construction sites. Thieves often have little difficulty in illicitly starting up an unattended backhoe or articulated loader with or without an engine ignition key. Once a backhoe's engine is running, the backhoe may be driven onto a trailer or flat bed truck and stolen. Such thefts lead to higher insurance premiums, which inevitably translate into higher construction costs.
Several efforts have been made to address these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,851, issued Feb. 15, 1983 to Confoey describes a bulldozer and backhoe locking device for prevention of theft of heavy equipment having hydraulic pistons and cylinders by locking the blade or bucket against the ground by placement of an elongated sleeve pivoted together along one edge over the extended piston rod for engagement against the end of the piston and cylinder assembly and the boom of the backhoe or the blade of the bulldozer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,570 issued Jun. 18, 2002 to Middleton et al., describes anti-theft device for removably placing around the cylinder of a stabilizer leg of heavy machinery such that the cylinder may not be retracted. The anti-theft device includes a shaft. The shaft is elongate and has a first and second end. The shaft is hollow such that the shaft has an inner surface and an outer surface. Each of the first and second ends is open. The shaft is divided into two substantially equal portions along a line orientated generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the shaft. Each of the portions has a pair of free edges. A first free edge of a first portion is hingedly coupled to a first free edge of the second portion such that the second free edges are abuttable. A closed position is defined by the second free edges being abutted. A latching means coupled to the shaft removably latches the first portion to the second portion in the closed position.